There will come a time for all of us when we are fully responsible for a beginner rider (at least we think we’re responsible). With this comes the tension of watching every mistake that rider makes. I recently was blessed with this responsibility and here’s the story.
As the weekend rolled around, anticipation grew because I had friends from out of town who were visiting. They live about four hours away and don’t get to ride with them often. They arrived with another of my old friends whom I hadn’t seen in years. This guy is like a 70’s ghetto stud if you can imagine that. Anyway, I let him ride my old Paramount RS3.0 since that’s the whole reason the others were coming down to visit. We arrived at the trailhead which is in some old farmers pasture and believe me, old farmers like to talk. He said my VooDoo Canzo was “pretty salty”. Cool.
We are ready to ride. We aren’t ready to ride. Beginners shoe comes untied, oh well, it happens. A slightly technical section comes upon us and I let the rest of the pack go ahead and ride behind the newbie. He did great through the whole thing. Using body English, low speed manuvering, good bike handling skills all around. So maybe I don’t really need to watch him that close after all!
Now the ride has come to the middle of a priarie with a four foot creek that the group must cross. We ride all along the legnth to find the most attractive place to cross. The whole pack splashes across the creek except for the newbie. No, he’s speeding full throttle toward the creek at a uncrossable section. An attempted bunnyhop fails and turns to catastrophy in an instant. Here is the new rider, laying on the ground and bleeding from the mouth. We circle around him to make sure he will be alright like vultures around a dead coon. Tooth through the lip and a bloody lower lip were luckily the only injuries he sustained.
On the other hand, cracked frame. I celebrate and rejoice for him. First ride and he has a major equipment failure, or was it Mountian Dew commercial syndrome? Yes, you can get really hurt at this sport. Yes, it can be dangerous at times. No, we don’t need to be exploited as mindless idiots with really nice insurance companies. I really believe this is becomming a problem. My friend, as groovy as he may be, thought of us like that. All we did was go down hills as horrific speeds because we were addicted to adrenalin. We have jumps the size of houses built all over cause we need to get mass amounts of air and get bikes stuck in trees. Am I crazy for being slightly pissed at some select large companies who portray mountian bikers as morons?
This Halloween, a friend of mine had a trick or treater come to his house with a bike helmet on, torn oversize clothing all stained in red, and a fake cast on his arm. When asked what he was supposed to be he replied, “I’m a mountian biker”.
Watch for this. Think about it. Don’t support those who give us this mindless image. Join I.M.B.A. Walk a trail and see how aggrivated a hiker can become an bikers. Just think about how wonderful our sport is, how much better it could be. Remember, being a consumer, you vote every day.
Posted in Bicycle Stories